The Knight

FINALLY! LITAS COINS AND BANKNOTES RELEASED INTO CIRCULATION ON JUNE 25!

10 Litu obverse. Light brown.
Contains the bust of Steponas Darius
and Stasys Girenas with their Lithuanian
and American military caps. The water-
mark, Vytis with the Columns of Gedimin-
as below, is supposed to be in the
blank space to the left. However, paper
misalignment by the printers resulted
in some notes having a shifted watermark
up or down in the printed areas.

A defect occurred on some of the
earlier printed notes, upon which the
dot above the Lithuanian letter "e" was
omitted in the word GIRENAS below the
bust. The mistake was corrected, but
some early notes with the mistake were

released into circulation,
bearing low numbered "AB” serial
letters. These are scarce, as
the mistake was soon corrected
and all notes now bear the dot
above the letter "e."

The reverse features an
eerie scene of the LITUANICA
plan flying across the Atlantic,
with smoke from the crash below.

A cloud-like depiction of
North America and Europe appears
on the sides.

The Lithuanian Litas was finally placed
into circulation on Friday, June 25. The tempor-
ary currency, the Talonas, was exchanged into
Litai at the rate of lOOt to 1 L. The Bank of
Lithuania established the value of the Litas at
U.S. 25c. This is considerably more than the
pre-War Litas, which was worth U.S. 10 to 16c.

Talonas notes were exchanged into Litai
until July 20. On August 1, the use of foreign
currency as legal tender in Lithuania was forbid-
den by law.

1991-dated banknotes all measuring 135 x
65 mm. were released into circulation, in denom-
inations of: 10, 20, 50, and 100 L. The 500 and

1,000 Litu notes were not released yet, but will
be in the future. 1991-dated coins, minted in
both England and at the new Lithuanian mint in
Vilnius, were issued in the following denomina-
tions: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 cents; 1, 2, 5 Litai.
The Lithuanian government also authorized the
minting of 10,000 1993-dated 10 Litu coins to
commemorate the 60th anniversary of the flight
of Darius-Girenas.

It soon was apparent upon the release of
the coins, that it was easy to confuse the
small centas coins with the 1-2-5 Litai coins.
So banknotes have been printed in those Litai de-
nominations, which will be put into circulation
(Continued on page 8..)

2.

1993 500 TALONAS NOTE LAST OF THE SERIES

LlETtiVOS^

RESPL'BUKA

1 9 9 3'.

i.P..E N K ;i
" & I MTA 1

:vTA L o isj g

P E N K 1
Sim ta I

TALON V

LF074010

On May 10, only one month before Lith-
uania switched over to the Litas, a new
1993-dated 500 Talonas note was issued into
circulation, the last of the Talonas series.
The note is light blue in color and measures
120 X 57 mm.— the same as the 1993 200 Talonas
note. So, there are two 1993-dated notes in
the Talonas series. The 500 Talonu was only
in circulation for two months, before the
Litas was introduced. The reverse features two
wolves, instead of a bear which appeared on
the 1992-dated 500 Talonas note.

The new note was issued amidst reports
of 19,000 counterfeit 1992-dated 200 Talonas
notes. The issuance of the 1993-dated 500
Talonas was done as a precaution measure
against counterfeiting, as higher security
measures are contained in the new 1993 notes.

"Lietuvos Rytas" reported [April 18
issue] "All suspicious 200 value Talonai
notes were found in Siauliai. According to
police officials of this city, there are
enough differences, that these copies can
quickly be determined to be counterfeit. All
suspicious notes are presented to the Siauliai
Police Station from different parts of the
city. The first two suspicious notes were
found last Thursday, and this weekend 25 more
were found."

IN THE MEANTIME

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?

The weekly newspaper LITAS ran a
contest beginning last April which
brings a chuckle— it uses a U.S. Dollar
outline for its "Litas Litas'" money
contest, with a $50 top prize.

Illustrated on the right is one of
their "dollars," of which we will let
you be the judge. Anyway, from the April
20-26 No. 16 issue, here is the contest
information:

"Litas' readers inquired: Maybe
you know, when the Litas will be intro-
duced? The Litas Commission can best
answer that. And until it does that,
until the Lithuanian currency Litas will
help the country's economy, we decided
to brighten your life a bit— we issued
"Litas' Litas!"

It will not only bring a smile,
but will also be a help to your personal
budget — if you are able to guess the
three number combination, you will win
"Ana'nia" company's prize— 50 U.S.

The game rules are very simple. We will print the "Litas' Litas" in
three consecutive weekly issues. Each time, write in the square any
number between 2 and 25 and next to it your last name, first name, address,
home and work phone number. Cut it out and send it to "Litas." The last
entry must have a May 7 postmark. In this way a three number combination
will result. The winner will be selected on May 11 at 11 am in a random
drawing at the editor's office. Those wanting to participate inthe drawing
are welcome to attend."

3.

FEATURE OF THE MONTH. By Frank Passic, Albion, Michigan.

We thought we'd provide some balance to this
issue of The Knight with a story about medieval
Lithuanian coinage. Pictured on the right is an unusual
item which is in the collection of the Balzekas
Museum of Lithuanian Culture in Chicago: A Lithuanian
1568 A-grashis, which has been overstruck with a
Dutch doit piece of 1720.

The overstriking was done at the mint in Harder-
wijk, Gelderland province, in what is now the Nether-
lands. WHY?

It has been theorized that because this medieval-
era Lithuanian coin is similar in size to the Dutch
coin, that it was used to test the die of the 1720
coin. The 1720 overstriking shows a four-line inscri-
ption on the obverse, above a small goose. If you
look closely, you'll see the flattened head of Sigismund
August in the background. The reverse bears a crowned
coat-of-arms showing two lions rampant, with inscript-
ions.

The Lithuanian reverse side, which is barely
recognizable, is inverted (upside down) in relation to
the 1720 Dutch overstriking.

A write-up of this particular coin appeared in
the Dutch Numismatic Quarterly "De Guezenpenning"
(The Beggars Medal) January 1967.

Collecting medieval Lithuanian coins is an
exciting field, and we know that several of our LNA
members have collections of this type. I hope that
we can feature more medieval coins and medals in
the future soon here in The Knight.

LITHUANIAN KINGS MEDAL SERIES

The Lithuanian Foundation in Vilnius issued a series of several medals in 1992 using designs by
sculptor Vytautas Kasuba of the Lithuanian Kings. Illustrated below are the obverses of three of them.
The set comes in a custom case, and each are enclosed in plastic holders. Val Ramonas, director of
the Balzekas Museum has a personal set for sale for $150. You can write him or call (312) 582-6500.

V.

MORE DESIGN DESCRIPTIONS

20 Litu. The obverse is
maroon and green. The reverse is
brown and maroon. The obverse fea-
tures poet Jonas Maironis (1862-
1932). On the reverse is depicted
the Lithuanian Statue of Liberty,
and the Vytautas the Great National
Museum in Kaunas.

50 Litu. Shown is Lithuanian
patriarch Jonas Basanavicius, facing
left. The bill is yellow and brown.
The reverse side shows a beautiful
bird's eye view of Vilnius, focusing
on the Cathedral of Vilnius, and
the Bell Tower in front of it.

FROM THE EDITOR

This past July, your editor was
able to spend a week at the ANA
summer conference in Colorado Springs,
CO. I had a great time, and was able
to spend time in the ANA library to
look up what they had about Lithuanian
numismatics. For your information,
they do have a complete set of The
Knight.

With the ANA convention being
held in Detroit next year. I'm
planning to have an LNA meeting
there. More on this later.

Thank you very much for those
of you who have sent in an extra
$5-10 in addition to the $15 subscrip-
tion in your renewals. This helps us
much, as we have to pay extra money
for half-tones for pictures in each
issue. Last issue had many photographs
of medals, which ran us $A0 extra
(photos have to be enlarged/reduced
to proper size).

Well, the Litas is finally in
circulation! I'm sorry that officials
could not get their act together
regarding the Litas during the past
two years, and for the printing
problem fiasco. Readers, what do you
think of the designs? Let us know.

This issue was crammed full of
"news" again, but things should
settle down back to normal soon, and
we'll be able to take up more space
for educational articles here in THe
Knight.

—Frank Passlc, EDITOR.

100 Litu. Blueish-green aqua
in color. The obverse depicts Lithu-
anian historian and writer Simonas
Daukantas (1793-1864), who wrote
the first history of Lithuania in
the Lithuanian language. The design
at the bottom consists of oak leaves.

On the reverse side is an
historic aerial view of Vilnius,
with the belfry of St. John's Church,
the highest in the city, in the
center.

COINS

The small centas coins were
minted in Vilnius at the Lithuanian
Mint, using equipment obtained in
England. These are aluminum, and
have a plain edge.

The 10, 20, and 50 centu

coins were minted in England and
appear to be aluminum-bronze. They
are similar to the 1990 Petras
Garska designs.

The 1, 2, and 5 Litai coins
have a reeded edge, and are made of
cupro-nickel. All coins bear the
Vytis emblem designed by the late
sculptor Juozas Zikaras, who designed
Lithuania's 1925, 1936, and 1938
coins. We will print the techincal
information about the coins in the
next issue of The Knight as to
weight, sizes, etc.

The Bank of Lithuania is
presently working on a contract
with a Western company on the minting
of new centas coins with new designs.
According to the Lithuanian Weekly,
"By now quite a few counterfeit
centai as well as several litai
notes have been withdrawn from
circulation."

"The Bank of Lithuania has
circulated an official warning that
counterfeit 2 and 5 litai 1991
coins have appeared in circulation.

A description of the forged
coins, published in the press, says
that the counterfeits are made of
lead fusions; they are brighter,
softer and thicker, as compared
with their genuine counterparts.
They bear more shortcomings which
form during the process of molding."
(August 27-Sept 2 1993 issue, p. 1.)

46549«;

-SIMTASilitpilJl;

Is C>Amc^NT<kS|

Page 5.

LITHUANIAN

NUMISMATIC

DICTIONARY

BY

Jonas K. Karys

English Translation by
V.L.G. Matelis

Continued from last issue...

Slavic students as a "grivna," and later Lithuanian amateurs accepted the designation without greater study, and comical-
ly turned it into a "grivina” or ”grivine.” Such a fate also overtook the historical Lithuanian collar, and even the
silver "mane” or "chop." 6. In Czarist Russia, a 10 kopeck silver (but in the second half of the 18th century changed
into copper) coin called a grivna, and in the 19th and 20th centuries, circulated also in subjugated Lithuania.

GROS TOURNOIS (turonensis argenti, denarius grossus, grossus albus). A substantial silver coin introduced by the
French King Louis IX in 1266, weighing *t.22 g., and encompassing 12 local small change deniers.

GROTAS/Groat. *German Groten, plural Grote). A German silver coin, struck and circulating, graduallylightening and
declining in value, in the North Sea coastlands, from the iHh to the 19th centuries. Initially , 32 groats constituted a
Bremen and Oldenburg mark. In the 18th century it was 72 groats to the Bremen gold taler. The final silver groat was
struck in 1870.

GULDENAS/Gulden (A German translation of the Latin aureus-Goldener, Guldiner). 1. A gold floren, translated into
German as "Gulden." In the Uth century, Germans began to imitate the floren, issuing their own "Goldgulden" —a gold
coin of 0.956 fineness, initially weighing about 3.5^0g. Later, decreasing about a third, and in the l6th century, it
was supplanted in Europe by the growingly popular dukat. 2. Every substantial central European coin in silver, beginning
with the Tyrol most substantial "Guldengroschen" (U80, weighing about 32g. (0.9*»0 purity) and equalling 60 kreutzers,
and ending with somewhat smaller silver pieces, which at about 1523 were beginning to be called talers, and were planned
and struck as silver equivalents of the golden gulden. For this reason, their names were intimately connected with the
gulden (Guldengroschen, Reichsguldiner, Guldiner, Gulden). And the l6th century "halfchop" was known as a gulden in the
international coin dictionary. 3- A Netherlands silver coin containing 28 stuivers, originally struck in 1601 and having
about 9.6g of silver. In the 19th century, it was somewhat reduced and divided into 20 stuivers, and finally in 1875 it
became an overvalued coin. A. A Dutch monetary unit from the beginning of the 19th century, divided into 100 cents in
1816, a silver coin. That same unit and its related coin at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries began to assume the name
of gilder-guilder, which became established, and the "gulden" in the 20th century remained in gold and combined silver
coins. 5. A monetary unit of 100 pfennigs (established in 1923) in silver, and from 1932 in nickel, for the free city of
Danzig between the first and second World Wars.

GUMOWSKI, MARIAN (born in 1881), professor, numismatist, outstanding numismatist of modern Poland. Has written in
this field and associate fields about AOO articles, books, phamplets, among which there are some directly relating to
Lithuanian numismatics, heraldry, sphragistics, for example: "Numizmatyka Litewska Wiekow Srednich" (1920); "Mennica
Wilenski w XVI-XVII Wieku (1921), "Wilenska Szkola Medaljerska w XVI i XVII w." (1929), "Herby i pieczecie miast Woje-
wodztwa Wilenskiego" (1935). And in some purely Polish studies of his, Gumowski frequently refers to historical coins of
the Lithuanian Grand Duchy, "Republic" era, with Polish elements unavoidably intermingled. However, in his publications,
he is not always properly objective regarding Lithuania’s matters, so an unnecessary error or two which might have
occurred, and its outworn conclusion, remains.

GVINEJA/Guinea. 1. An English gold coin, originally struck in 1663 (of Guinea’s gold), and continued until 1813.
Initially, it weighed 8.A7g (reckoning 7.77g previous metal) and equal to 20 shillings. Later, its value changed somewhat,
but from 1717, it steadied at 21 shillings. 2. A monetary indicator of 21 shillings. An accounting coin in England, next
to the guinea supplanting sovereign of 20 shillings in 1816-17. The 21-shilling guinea has become so deeply ingrained in
the ENglish mind that even today and in modern times, professional salaries are so reckoned, as are all types of honorar-
ia, costly ornaments, prices of artistic portraits, though that coin has not been struck for nearly 200 years.

HALERIS/Heller. 1. A silver coin initially struck in the 13th century in Hale, equal to a denar and weighing about
0.750 g., in the 15th and l6th centuries, it declined and became a billon coin, and in the 17th century, a copper one,
reduced to 0.5 of a German pfennig value. The haler spread to the east, to Germany, Pomerania, Silezia, and elsewhere,
even reaching Lithuania’s territories, and in Poland (ofttimes in Lithuania also) the small denars were labeled halers
even in the 17th century. 2. In Germany, the haler was demonetized with the inception of the mark (after the victory in
the 1871 war), but in Austria it was revived, and remained there as a bronze coin, at 0.01 of a crown (1892-192A, see
'chilling). 3. As an aluminum coin in Czechoslovakia, at 0.01 part of monetary unit, the crown.

•iEGIRA.

Mohamedan-musselman era,

beginning with the flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD. Countries

and states using arabic or persian numbers (See Figures and Numbers) mark their moneywith calendar dates vithin the hegira
chronology. The hegira years (lunar) are about 3)^ shorter than the Julian-Gregorian calendar years. To transfer a hegira
date into modern European date, the following calculation must be made: take 3^ of the hegira year; subtract the resulti-
ng sum from the hegira year; add 622 to the result. Example: On a specific coin we find the date 13**3 hegira year: 1.
13't3:100 X 3 = 'tO.29 (‘>0); 2. 13't3 - 'tO = 1303. 3. 1303 plus 622 = 1925 (current A.D. year).

HERALDIKA/Heraldry . (French, heraldique) an auxiliary historical science, studying armorial insignia (identifying
symbols). It is closely related to genealogy, numismatics, sphragistics. It helped and helps explain and clarify an

entire series of medieval historical problems, to identify (according to their coats-of-arms) many important persons,
coins, products and other symbols of life.

HEROOOTAS (About A85-A25 BC Herodotus Halicarnasus) "The fahter of history." The first to have written a history of
civilized mankind of his time. Likewise, he was first to witness that the Lydians were the very first to begin striking
coins. For that alone, Herodotus has been honored as the earth's first numismatist (See Lydia).

HIBRIDAS/Mule. (A mixture. In German, Zwittermuenze). A coin produced by two different dies. Such a coin appears
when someone in the Mint errs, or it may even be done consciously, but it is never legal.

HUTTEN-CZAPSKI, Emerik (1828-1896). An earl, a well-known official and administrator of Czarist Russia, a famous
numismatist. He collected, studied and described a great many of Russian, Polish and Lithuanian historical coins and
medals. With his own funds he established and furnished the Numismatic Museum in Cracow (which was designated with his
name, and later joined with the Polish National Museum). Among other works, he wrote a valuable 5-volume numismatic
catalogue "Catalogue de la collection des medailles et monnaies polonaises" printed in 1781-1916. The 5th volume was

reprinted in 1957 at Graze. This catalogue covers many Lithuanian numismatic items.

lOUBUS STAMPAS/Sunken Dies. Are those dies whose characters reach below the surface and produce coins with raised

characters. Opposite of Incuse.

IKONA/Icon. (Greek, eikon, eikonos). A picture, portrait, illustration. In the Eastern Church, a portrait in bas
relief or mozaic of CHrist, Mary or some saint.

IKONOGRAFIJA/Iconography . The art of presenting portraits, pictures. The art of identifying old scenes, pictures
and portraits. The description of relief pictures in numismatics.

ILGASIS/Long One. The monetary unit of reckoning of anciant Lithuanians. A) Initially, until the Prague grosh was
introduced into theland, the "long chop" itself. B) The ingot cast for coins, when the "chop" itself was discontinued,
the equivalent of the "long chop," between the end of the l**th century and the middle of the 15th, whose standard was
the sum of 100 groshes. If a person agreed to or was forced to agree to pay with the "long one," in the days of the
"long chop," he would have to compensate with one, and later, the ingot, or when the "chops" disappeared, with 100
groshes.

ILGIEJI PINIGAI/Long Money, (or straight, LONG). A general term for ancient Lithuanian cast ingots; its opposite,
"slippery money" (a "chop" contrasted to coins), when both these monies circulated in Lithuania. It is unknown when this
term originated but sources from the late middle ages and even modern times testify that it was firmly used and widely
spread. From that term rose the reckoning "LONG ONE." The name was "dolgeji" to the Slavs living in Lithuania.

ILGOJI KAPA/A Long Chop. The larger of the cast ingots used by medieval Lithuanians, weighing about 200gr.

IMPERIJOLAS/Imperial . a) A gold coin valued at 10 rubles of the Russian Empire in the 18th-19th centuries, b)
Following Vitte's 1897 reform, the older form of the Imperial was issued in that year, in the denomination of 15 rubles.
The smaller gold piece in the 10 ruble denomination made up only 2/3 of its weight. Earlier, the Czar's coins in the 5
and ruble denomination was occasionally called imperials, but they were not, though some numismatists may term them
thus.

INFLIACINES MONETOS/Inflation Coins. Coins of cheap and the cheapest metals, struck in normal as well as in unusual-
ly large denominations during critical times of inflation. In the monetary history of all nations, their normal denomina-
tions, from the lowest to the highest, follow: silver— up to 50, gold up to 100 times the basic monetary coin unit.
During inflation coin denominations far exceed their normal values. As an example, Germany struck 100, 200, and 500 mark
coins in 1923, while in Saxony 1,000,000 and even 5,000,000 mark coins. With the exception of the latter bronze, all
others, all other coins mentioned here were struck in aluminum. In the same year 1923, Westfalia province emitted a coin
in the denomination of 1 billion (a German billion is as follows: 1,000,000,000,000). This, the largest of all inflation
currency was at least gold filled on the surface. Coins stamped up to higher denominations in Germany during that inflat-
ionary period amounted to a trillion marks.

(Continued next issue....)

8.

July 30-August 5 issue, page 1.

Printers to compensate
for low-quality litas

By.ANDRIUS UtKALNlS
in Vilnius

THE AMERICAN Banknote Company, (formerly the U.S. Ban-
knote Corporation) will reimburse the losses it caused to Lithuania
by omitting important security features on the Lithuanian national
currency (litas) banknotes. The Bank of Lithuania says that it is
still not clear how the compenstion will be made; whether by re-
turning part of the payment or by printing some other securities for
Lithuania.

The Company is currently reprinting 10-, 20- and 50-litas ban-
knotes, which ail lack security threads, have very low quality
watermarks and are printed on simple off-set instead of deep-print-
ing machines. According to Kestutis Lynikas, a security expert
from Australia employed by the Bank of Lithuania, the new, re-
worked banknotes will be better protected from counterfeiting than
Estonian and Latvian money.

The low-quality banknotes will be in circulation for several more
months. The Bank of Lithuania is confident that such a period of
time is too short for counterfeiters to organise printing. Apart from
this, in about two months’ time banknotes of 1-, 2- and 5-litas
denomintions will be introduced to replace the coins of the same
value, which have been found to be too easy to confuse with centas
coins.

August 6-12 issue, page B1.

Dollar price tags
disappear without pain

ByANDRIUS UiKALNlS

in Vilnius

THE LAST BALTIC state to
re-introduce its pre-war cur-
rency finished monetary reform
on August 1 when the litas be-
came the sole legal tender in
Lithuania. The very next day,
August 2, the first, high-
quality, counterfeit 20-Iitas
note was discovered by a bank
in Klaipeda.

While many shops were
closed on August 1, a Sunday,
in local markets shoppers were
still seen using whatever cur-
rencies they had left in their
pockets — mostly dollars or
marks.

But the following day shops
opened in Vilnius displaying
only litas prices. The chairman
of the Bank of Lithuania, Ro-
mualdas Visokavicius, an-
nounced on Lithuanian radio
that the police would strictly
enforce the new currency rules.

People were informed about
the ''iirrcncy regime" well in

advance, so the new regulation,
that is supposed to strengthen
further the national currency,
did not bring about any specific
surprises.

In fact, most hard currency
shops started accepting local
currency long before it became
the sole legal method of pay-
ment, so August 1 brought
nothing but new price tags for
retailers.

In hotels, prices are also
quoted only in litas - but bills
paid by credit card are still set-
tled in dollars or marks. Gie-
drius, a young entrepreneur at
the Gariunai open marketplace,
dressed in jogging pants and
hula-hula silk shirt, explains:
"They cannot really ban sales
for hard currency - well, unless
a policeman stands right here
and watches what I do. People
pay in whatever money they
like, and they will do it any-
way." Giedrius sells Indonesia-
made cotton trousers, US $15 -
or 60 litas -per pair.

LITAS RELEASED INTO CIRCULATION

(Continued from page 1....)
as soon as they are numbered and cut, probably
by October.

The quality problems with the Litai notes
continued, as numerous notes lacked the Vytis
with Columns of Gediminas watermark, or had it
vertically misaligned. The Bank of Lithuania
ordered all banks to inspect the 50 and 100 Litu
notes and to take those without the watermark
out of circulation.

It is estimated that the 1991-dated banknot-
es will be used for several months until higher
quality ones are printed and ready.

This special issue of The Knight is crammed
with descriptions and information about the new
Litas coins and banknotes.

SOUVENIR BANKOTES FOR POPE'S VISIT ISSUED

A set of souvenir banknotes to commemorate
the visit of Pope John Paul II to Lithuania in
September was issued in denominations of: 20 and
50 Skatiku; and 1, 3, and 5 Auksinai. The denomi-
nation names date back to the 1919-1922 era when
Lithuania dubbed the German East Marks as
"Auksinas" and "Skatikas," although no notes
bearing those names were printed then.

The notes measure 125 x 70 mm, and were
produced by entrepreneurs Arvydas Karaska and
Saulius Kruopis, both of Vilnius.

The notes contain scenes of Lithuanian
sites along the Pope's itinerary, and are filled

with various coats-of-arms, and Lithuanian designs.

These notes are illustrated on the following
page. Their colors are as follows: 50 Skatiku:

Obv: Blue. Rev: Green, red, brown, 20 Skatiku:

Obv: Brown, blue. Rev: Blue, green, brown. 1
Auksinai: Obv: Red, green. Rev: Blue, Green,
Brown. 3 Auksinai: Obv: Brown, red. Rev: Green,

brown. 5 Auksinai. Obv: Green, blue. Rev: Red,
brown, green.

THE KNIGHT Volume 16, No. 1. Issue #86.
The official publication of the Lithuanian Numis-
matic Association.

Frank Passic, Albion, Michigan, EDITOR.
Robert J, Douchis, Columbia, MD., DIRECTOR.

Subscription/membership to Volume 16: A
donation of $15 or more for 5 issues. Write:
LNA, P.O. Box 612, Columbia, MD 21045.

EDITOR'S ADDRESS: Frank Passic, 900 S.
Eaton St., Albion, Michigan 49224,

The LNA is a member of the American
Numismatic Association C-117903.

ILLUSTRATED BELOW ARE SOUVENIR BANKNOTES FOR IHE POPE'S VISIT

10.

LETTERS

JANUARY 13 1991 MEDAL

One of our members, Joseph Brazen, Sr,,
received the following letter from one of his
relatives in Lithuania about the new Lithuanian
money. She writes:

"We have finally rid ourselves of those

"little animals" called "money." But the new

money doesn't make us happy at all. The paper

money is bearable, but the coins are someone's

nonsense. Everyone is so dissatisfied. The litas's
can be so mixed up with the cents. If you have
good eyes, it's all right. But for older people it's
downright a burden, as unconscionsable salespeople
can cheat them very much."

I am glad that you were able to use some
of the numismatic articles from "The Baltic Indep-
endent" that I mailed to you. I'm pleased that I
was able to share this information with the other
members of the LNA. Unfortunately, my subscription
to The Baltic Independent has expired, and I am
not able to send these articles anymore.

— John Kozimbo, Linden, NJ

[Editor's note: Again, thank you so much
for supplying these clippings about Lithuanian
money items to us, John. We very much appreciate
it. Do any of our LNA members subscribe to that
paper (published in Estonia) and could send the
editor clippings of articles about Lithuanian money
which appear?]

WANT/FOR SALE ADS

FOR SALE: The following Lithuanian COINS.
1925 1 centas UNC $30; 1936 I Centas AU $15, XF
$9; 1936 2 Cental AU $25, XF $15; 1925 5 Centai
UNC $22.50, AU $15; XF $8; 1936 5 Centai AU
$18, XF $1A; 1925 10 Centu UNC $24, XF $10;
1925 20 Centu AU $18, XF $12, VF $5; 1925 50
Centu UNC $50, AU $35, XF $20, VF $16; 1925 1
Licas AU $15, XF $12, VF $10; 1925 2 Litu UND
$25, AU $18, XF $12, VF $10; 1925 5 Litai UNC
$35, AU $25, XF $15; 1936 5 Litai UNC $25; 1936
10 Litu UNC $40; 1938 10 Litu UNC with two
minor spots on edge, $60.

The following ESTONIAN coins: 1926 3-Marka
KM-6 XF $55. 1925 5 Marka KM-7 XF $200.00.
1933 1 Kroon KM-14 UNC $65. 1934 1 Kroon KM-16
UNC $35.

Dr. Victor Zilaitis, 2018 Heathfield Circle,
Sun City Center, FLORIDA 33573. (813) 633-3403.

FOR SALE: New Lithuanian Litas coins and
banknotes. Write. Frank Passic, 900 S. Eaton St.,
Albion, Michigan 49224.

FOR SALErBook Cyclopedia of Lithuanian
Numismatics by Dr. Aleksandras M. Rackus (1965).
Now out-of-print. $20, plus $3.50 p & h. Balzekas
Museum of Lithuanian Culture, 6500 S. Pulaski
kd., Chicago, IL 60629.

Member Aleksandras Razdius has
the above-pictured 1992 medal in his
collection, the January 13 Medal, in
memory of those who died at the
television station in Vilnius. It features
the victims' names, the Television
tower and the Hill of 3 Crosses monu-
ment, and St. Geroge slaying the dragon.